UK's Department for Education CTO Adrian Tucker mobilises workforce through major IT overhaul

The CTO moved the department's systems to the cloud and completely overhauled end-user devices in rapid 18-month transformation.

Tucker wants to connect all this data to avoid continuously asking schools for the same information and make more accurate predictions to better guide choices aroundeducation. The data could also directly help citizens, by helping parents review school results and better understand which one would suit their child.

He's confident that like most forward-thinking organisations the DfE will continue to treat technology as intrinsic to the success of the business and not just an isolated accessory.

"Traditionally IT has been very much a service to most businesses and over the last year and a bit it's more about how can technology start delivering business outcomes," he says.

"Instead of it just being a commodity that sits on desks, it now has a significant purpose in ensuring that the business meets its aims. It can also start talking about the art of the possible and sharing with business teams what they can now do with new technology and how that actually they can do things that perhaps wasn't possible even a year ago."